The Black Seeds Specials (Easy Star Records)

Easy Star All-Stars Dubber Side of the Moon (Easy Star Records)

Boys and girls, I can’t tell you if a mediocre reggae album can be dubbed into greatness – off the top of my curly white-haired head, I don’t have a good example of one.

But this I can tell you: 2003’s Dub Side of The Moon from the Easy Star All-Stars and last year’s Solid Ground from The Black Seeds were both excellent offerings in their original form – and using them as launch pads for new experiments in dub and remixing has resulted in a couple of fine, fine albums.

For those who tuned in late (or just descended the gangplank of the mothership and haven’t had time to catch up on Earthling reggae), the All-Stars’ ’03 Dub Side set the standard by which all reggae cover albums will be judged for evermore. They took Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of The Moon to places it had never been before – but willingly went. No emotions were lost in translation and nothing ran aground in shallower depths (no reggae karaoke reefs to be found). Simply put: the Floyd found riddim. (Or rather, riddim found the Floyd.)

On their new Dubber Side of The Moon, the Easy Star All-Stars go deep into their own spin, turning the mix controls over to guest pilots such as Adrian Sherwood & Jazzwad (“Brain Damage”), The Alchemist (“Money”), Mad Professor (a bonus remix of “Money”), and Dubphonic (“The Great Gig In The Sky”, featuring soaring vocals by Kirsty Rock). It needs to be noted that the spirit of the original songs is never lost, however, even being a couple of generations into a totally different genre.

The experiments take on their own flavors, from total roots remixes such as 10 Ft. Ganja Plant’s take on “On The Run” to the teched-out dub step approach that Kalbata applies to “Any Colour You Like”. It all works well as a collection, allowing the listener to venture into new territory without ever losing that thread of familiarity – and isn’t that what true dub done well is meant to do? (Oh – and in case you were wondering, boys and girls: the coughing bong hit still takes the place of Pink Floyd’s cash register rhythm on “Money”.)

Veteran New Zealand skankers The Black Seeds made their mark in the US last year with Solid Ground, a neat mix of roots reggae, soul, and funk. Old-school and fresh sounds bumped hips and ground butts nicely while offering positive vibes and thoughts to consider. In short, it gave you something to both feel and think about.

Specials is a revisit to the music of Solid Ground, with approaches as varied as the aforementioned explorations on Dubber Side.

Although Solid Ground was a true album’s worth of tunes from beginning to end with no low points or dips in the energy, “Come To Me” was worthy of “single” status – and it’s only right that it’s revisited by three different mixmasters on Specials. Takes range from the ghostly bass-heavy version by International Observer to The Mighty Asterix and MC Desta’s well-toasted soundsystem-style offering and the nothing-but-a-party mash-up by JStar.

Other tunes appearing in multiple versions include “Rotten Apple” (D-TOX goes totally club, while D-Duff takes more of a Black Ark approach) and “Make A Move” (Downtown Brown and Radio Riddler each go at it in their own way, but never lose track of that killer groove).

In amongst all the sonically-sculpted cuts is a lovely unplugged version of “Send A Message” with the Seeds’ horns doing a slow dance alongside gentle hand percussion and acoustic guitars. Barnaby Weir’s vocal on the original was killer; dialing back the instrumentation only serves to intensify the wallop of his words. It’s a stark and beautiful performance.

All in all, both Specials and Dubber Side of The Moon allow us to hear some already-great tunes with new ears. Remember, boys and girls: dub done right is not hash made from leftovers of the musical main course – rather, it’s a different way of preparing a dish using many of the same ingredients, but altering the measurements to produce a result both familiar and original. This is some tasty stuff.